CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Flight Attendants have been passing out cards to passengers at Midway Airport Thursday as part of a campaign to get more protections from abusive passengers.
They’re calling the campaign “Assault Won’t Fly.” Thom McDaniel has been a flight attendant for 30 years.
"We've seen a huge increase in the number of assaults against flight attendants and other airline employees," he said. "It started kind of with COVID. We saw a big increase there, but it's continued and there were assaults before then and assaults after that."
McDaniel, and other airline workers, put some of the blame on the airlines for overbooking, short-staffing and cancelled flights.
Stacy Bassford is also a flight attendant.
"It's a daily occurrence," she said. "I've been grabbed and had people dig their nails into my skin. I've been groped by passengers. It makes me angry and it makes me feel dehumanized."
Last year, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, there were nearly 6,000 incidents involving unruly or violent passengers.
These flight attendants fear the coming holiday travel season.
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